Publisher's Summary

More than half of Bartonshire, it seemed, had entertained murderous thoughts at some time or another about the bullying farmer Bernard Bailey. Perhaps this was the reason why he had his property protected by more security devices than Fort Knox. In the end though, they didn't help. After six months of highly publicised death threats, Bernard's bloodied corpse is discovered in his isolated farmhouse. And so DCI Lloyd and DI Judy Hill begin the most unusual murder enquiry of their careers. As the evidence is sifted, the question they end up asking isn't "who stood to gain from the death?" but rather "why didn¿t they do it sooner?"

Critic Reviews

"McGown's latest Lloyd and Hill mystery possesses a wealth of psychological nuance and narrative depth, all the way through to the resolution, a masterpiece of controlled complexity." (Publishers Weekly)